Murderball: Take it Personally

I've seen Murderball 3 times.  If you're old enough (it's rated R for some
curse words and sexual content), I recommend you see it at least once.  It
provides the viewer with plenty of reality and touching moments.  Intense
rivalry, team work, relationships between family and friends, pain, fear of
the unknown, insight, drama and true passion.

It's been 38 years since the premiere of Ironside, a series about a Chief
of Detectives whose life was changed by a Disability.  Ironside, a
wheelchair user as a result of an assassin's bullet, became a consultant to
the police department.  The series lasted 8 years.

Logic would dictate that after years of awareness, disability laws,
consistently seeing people with disabilities succeed in mainstream America
and a HUGE amount of POSITIVE reviews, it'd be hard to find a ticket to
MURDERBALL.  Still the movie has multiple barriers to overcome to generate
mass appeal.  The most profound of those is attitudes about disability-
Attitudes with deep roots.

In the 19th century, the Alabama legislature declared us a "menace to the
happiness...of the community."  In Pennsylvania, disabled people were
termed "anti-social beings;" in Washington, "unfitted for companionship
with other children;" in Kansas, "a misfortune both to themselves and to
the public," in Indiana, we were required to be "segregate[d] from the
world;" and in South Dakota, we simply did not have the "rights and
liberties of normal people."  In every state, the policy was to keep us out
of site and out of mind.  Such was the treatment of people with
disabilities for decades by the medical profession, state officials,
democratically elected state legislatures and even the United States
Supreme Court.

On July 26th, 1990, President George Bush signed the Americans with
Disabilities Act into law.  It has great promise.
"Barriers to employment, transportation, public accommodations, public
services, and telecommunications have imposed staggering economic and
social costs on American society and have undermined our well-intentioned
efforts to educate, rehabilitate, and employ individuals with disabilities.
By breaking down these barriers, the ADA will enable society to benefit
from the skills and talents of individuals with disabilities, will allow us
all to gain from their increased purchasing power and ability to use it,
and will lead to fuller, more productive lives for all Americans,"
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/links/ADAq&a.html

Disability laws like the ADA have created change, but there must be an
emotional change, laws alone won't work.  Until people with and without
disabilities make themselves watch movies like Murderball, read books like
‘Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life,’ and have
relationships, inclusion of people with disabilities will only be a
dream.

I'm grateful to all the people that made Murderball possible, especially
the individuals and families who shared their stories.  I strongly
encourage people with and without disabilities to watch it, take someone
and challenge others to Take it Personally.  Otherwise the Hollywood
Blockbusters will cancel it.  Show times and locations are at
http://www.murderballmovie.com

Media, Hollywood, Publishers and Educators, here's your opportunity to make
a difference.  Elected officials,  Nothing About Us Without Us, it's time
to quit attacking the ADA and pass bills like MICASSA, Money Follows the
Person and Lifespan Respite NOW.

Mark Johnson is Director of Advocacy at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
He's been a C 5-6 quadriplegic from spinal cord injury and disability
rights advocate for over 30 years.